Everpoint - Novella

Part One:

A chance encounter

It was late, just past midnight, but the city was just coming to life. And so was she. The city set her on fire; the glistening lights from the towering buildings above and the faint echoing of laughter across the city streets. There was nothing else like this scene. A group of girls ran past her, almost knocking her over in their haste. They were a mix of bright neon colors and flashing lights, shrieking and laughing with excitement. She wasn't the only one who felt alive here.

Shops and clubs lined the streets; the shops filled with people fighting over the latest trends and fads, and the clubs pouring music into the world outside. Neither sounded interesting at the moment and she was low on cash anyway. She could get a few drinks from guys at the clubs and spend her time writhing on the dance floor with the other sweating bodies.

She slid her way into one of the clubs, the music pounding in her ears, the dance floor and bar filled with people. It didn't take long for her to get a couple drinks from more than willing guys and make some promises that she wasn't going to keep. Then she was among the bodies, dancing wildly to the music.

Time was lost to her as the songs played, the rhythms driving her movements. She didn't know how many songs played before she took another stab at the bar, convincing another couple guys for drinks. She didn't have time for lies and promises. And she didn't want to have to fake it. While she stood there, a flash of purple caught her eye, the color standing out among the other neon orange, green, and yellow. Something inside made her turn toward the color, but it was nowhere to be seen when she turned.

Then, beyond the bobbing heads cramming to get into the club, was the purple, pushing its way out. She struggled to follow after with the amount of people that wanted to be in the club and not go back out. She lost track of the color again before she made it outside. On the street, there was no sight of the color or the owner whatsoever. Her mood for dancing was gone and most of her buzz had worn off, leaving her hungry and slightly cranky.

She grumbled and the world closed around her, bringing her back to the pastel purple walls of her bedroom. She took the headset off and scratched her hands through her hair before grabbing her glasses and sitting up and stretching. Her computer said it was just past four in the morning and she had no new messages. "Figures," she scoffed and rolled her eyes, walking out of her bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen. She pulled a premade meal out of the freezer and popped it in the microwave. The echoes of the music of the club played in her ears and she swayed clumsily on the tiled floor.

Before the microwave beeped, there was a crash in the hallway outside her apartment, shortly followed by a, "shit." She crossed the kitchen and tried to peek out of the peephole, but she couldn't see anyone. Her hands trembled a little as she reached for the doorknob. She took a deep breath, telling herself that she didn't need to be afraid. Her hand clasped around the knob and turned it slowly, cracking the door open enough for her to peer down the hall in one direction. There she could see a hunched figure picking up an assortment of items and putting them back into a box. She couldn't tell what the items were but the person was careful to put them back.

When they were done the person folded the top of the box and lifted it quickly. Then they started coming down the hall, to which she panicked, thinking they might see her looking like a creeper from her door. Even as they passed under one of the two lights in the hallway, they didn't seem to notice her staring, or at least they pretended not to. But under the light, she could see that it wasn't just a they, it was a she, and she was gorgeous.

'Great,' she thought to herself, leaning back slightly. She lost her balance with one foot and started to fall over. She tried to regain her balance with the door, but her hand slipped sending her falling to the floor and the door crashing into the wall.

The woman, who was still in the hallway, exclaimed "what the fuck?" when she heard the sound.

"Ow," was all she could manage from her place on the floor, the floor somehow making her lose track of where she was.

"Holy shit, are you okay?" the woman asked, now standing over her, her tits almost falling out of her shirt as she bent over.

"What?" She asked, confused at first, then recognition dawned on her. She pushed herself off the floor, "oh, yeah," she said, adjusting her sweater a little, "that happens all the time."

"You fall over and crash the door into the wall a lot?" The woman asked her, raising one elegant eyebrow.

"Well," she started, chewing on her bottom lip, "I fall over a lot."

"I see," the woman said, glancing around her apartment and then looking back into the hall. "My name's Claudia, I'm moving in across the hall."

"At four in the morning?" She asked, forgetting all of her manners.

It was Claudia's turn to look embarrassed, her cheeks flushing and her neck turning red, "I work nights most of the time, so I do most of my sleeping in the day."

"Same," she said.

Claudia laughed, "change apartments a lot, do ya?"

"No, no," she said waving her hands.

"I knew what you meant," Claudia replied, laughing a little more. "You never told me your name."

"Oh," she said, staring for a moment, "oh! My name's Rae, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," Claudia said smiling, "I had better get back to it, these boxes aren't going to move themselves."

"Okay," Rae said, watching Claudia walk away before closing the door. She leaned her weight against it, wondering how she could be so awkward. Should she have offered to help move some boxes? 'Oh no,' she thought, watching out of the peephole, but she never seen Claudia move down the hall again for a really long time.

She turned around and sighed, then went into the bathroom, feeling like she needed a shower. She stared at herself in the mirror; her oversized sweater was drooping down on one side and went down far enough to cover the short shorts she had been wearing underneath. Her deep brown hair was disheveled, some of the shorter parts sticking up in some places. Plus she looked like she hadn't slept in about a week, which was partly true.

When she took the clothes off and turned the water on, she stared at herself again. She sighed deeply looking at the way her slightly larger breasts sagged almost like an old woman's. Some of the extra skin and stretch marks were still on her stomach from when she weighed more. 'Overall disappointing to look at,' she thought bitterly then slipped into the waiting water.

While she showered, she thought about what Claudia must look like naked. Her tits were probably perky and perfect, and she had the desired hourglass figure every woman wants. Even her ass was perfect and round when she had walked away. Rae wasn't sure if she was jealous or turned on by her.

'Mostly jealous,' she thought as she turned off the water and stepped out into the steam filled bathroom. She dried herself quickly but left the towel on her head and moved into her bedroom for clean clothes. She tugged on another pair of skin tight shorts and an almost identical oversized sweater. She rubbed her hair with the towel before tossing it on her computer chair then sprawled across her bed.

She stared at the ceiling above her, her mind drifting from Claudia to the purple colored hair she seen the club. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep. The scene in the club played over again, but this time grotesque beasts danced in place of the sweating bodies adorned in bright neon colors. The purple hair was there. But no matter how much she chased or pushed, she could never get closer.

Finally, she managed to grab onto the clothes of the person with the purple hair and turn it around to face her. The clothes turned to fur between her fingers and the face that turned was also a beast, like those of the others around her. They all seemed to close in around her, growling and gnashing their teeth.

She awoke with a start and stared at the walls around her. The light was still on above her, filling the room with the dull orange light but there was pale blue light filtering in through the window. She tried to replay the images of her dream but they faded quickly. "Stupid," she muttered to herself then reached for her phone on the night stand. It was a little after six now and she had several new in-game notifications. A couple of her rare items sold and the game was starting a new round of questing.

"Fuck yeah," she said, pushing herself off the bed, forgetting completely about the terrible dream. She danced excitedly out to the kitchen, pulling a premade meal out of the freezer and opening the microwave. She stopped, staring at the meal already in there. Confusion made her suspicious at first that someone had been in her apartment, then she remembered the events from a few hours previously. "I'm dumb," she sighed, not amused. She put the other meal back in the freezer and reheated the one that was in there. No use wasting the food, even if it tasted weird.

She spent her time eating while watching new videos of the questline. Many of the major streamers raved about the story while some of the others said it was the same things they've seen before. When she was finished eating, she left the little plate on the desk in front of her computer then settled into the bed. She tugged the headset on, the sheer glass screen showing her the room beyond before she pressed the button on the side and it engaged. There was a moment of adjustment, like always, but then her body fell limp and she was materializing in the world again.

When the world focused around her, she was still on the street outside the club and, while music still poured out of it, not many people wanted to spend their time dancing. She dashed toward the city center, finding a mass of people waiting to get into the new portals that appeared there. One portal among the rest had no on waiting, making her a little suspicious, but she rushed toward it, wanting to find some more rare items.

The portal was warm as she passed through. It sent her to a new land; a mountain range filled the horizon with a waterfall pouring down one side and a sprawling forest was laid out before her.

"Oh good," a voice said from behind her, "there was no warning or signs, but I guess this is a duo storyline." She turned toward the voice, finding a woman with brilliant purple hair sitting casually on a rock. "They won't let you leave this area if you don't have a partner. I feel like I've been waiting forever."

Part Two:

You'll never wait again

"Sorry," Rae said, shrugging one shoulder, "and yeah, they don't even let you teleport home until after you leave the starting area."

"I know," the woman said, standing gracefully from the rock, "what kind of bullshit is that? I hate this game sometimes."

"Same," she laughed.

"We should probably get started," the woman said, stepping closer to Rae, "My name is Keyasla, if you want to add me to a party." It didn't take Rae long to find her in the nearby, not knowing how to even spell the name Keyasla. She watched her squint for a moment at nothing before saying, "Orion, that's cute. I like it."

"Thanks," she said, noting the spelling of the name in the corner of her HUD, "it was a constellation before some of the stars disappeared."

"Neat."

They didn't say much as they set off into the forest in front of them and worked to grind through the first set of easy quests. Rae didn't spend much time doing things in the game with a group of people, let alone a partner. She wasn't used to sharing her loot, let alone having someone to kill the mobs with her. She was more confident in this world, but that didn't mean she wanted to spend her time with other people. This was a place where one could be anything; look like anything, sound like anything, do anything you wished, within the realm of the code anyway.

"Hey, so" Keyasla started, stopping outside of an item shop they found and pulling her out of her own thoughts, "I forgot to ask, but do you mind being in a stream? It's kind of my job and I don't want to have this play session to be a waste."

"I don't mind."

"Okay, cool, 'cause we're live. I keep muting my game mic while I'm talking to them, so I don't annoy you too much."

"I really don't mind," She said and waved one hand, "And you don't have to mute yourself, I don't care if you talk a lot."

Keyasla laughed and then a few voices flooded the air around her. "I opened it so you can talk too. Some of my fans have questions."

"Oh?" Rae asked and laughed a little.

"Why do you look like that?" One of the voices asked.

"Hey, I think she looks cute!" Keyasla said, turning to look at her and smiling wide.

"Well," Rae started, shifting her attention to the potions that lined the shelves, "there was this warrior in Old China that was called Hua Mulan and she wore something similar to this in a cartoon I seen of her when I was little. I did modify it from the original if you go looking for it, it is a custom outfit."

"See, it's so much cuter than mine!" Keyasla said with what sounded like envy, "I couldn't create something like that to save my life."

There was an outcry of no's to her statement, many of her fans talking over each other to tell her that "she totally could if she set her mind to it," and other encouragement. She thanked them all and smiled wide, giving a peace sign to no one before rambling about the potions Rae had been looking at and completely ignoring her.

Rae ignored the mass of voices talking and asking questions and bought some potions for healing, mana, and some others she thought might be useful. As she was putting them away, Keyasla bound over to her with her arms overflowing with more potions. "So we don't have to share," she said with another smile and a small laugh.

"I'll meet you outside," Rae said, to which Keyasla nodded and smiled more. Back outside the sun had drifted farther into the sky and night was approaching quickly. She checked her real time clock and noted that the world had a two-hour day cycle, meaning the night would also last them two hours and make playing difficult without light.

"Oh, wow, it's starting to get dark already?" One of Keyasla's fans said as she came out of the door behind Rae.

"Do you have anything to help us see in the dark?" Keyasla asked her.

"I have a spell that would give us a hovering light, but it wouldn't be much help," Rae said and shrugged.

"It's better than nothing," Keyasla shrugged also, giving her a couple extra mana potions, "since you're the one using magic."

"Thanks," Rae replied as she took then and put them away. She took a step forward and cast the spell, the area illuminating around her when the tiny ball of light appeared.

"Huh," Keyasla said, poking the ball, "cute."

Rae felt strange. This woman felt almost like she was trying too hard to be a girl, but at the same time it seemed like it could be natural. For all Rae knew, this "woman" could really be a fat guy in his basement using a voice mod.

She ignored these thoughts as they made their way through the forest, fighting mobs and collecting items they thought they might need. Keyasla spoke frequently and avidly to her followers, and they seemed enthusiastic about her in return. Overall, it wasn't as unpleasant as she thought it would be to have her around, even if it had only been for a couple hours.

Just before the sun rose to bathe the world in light, Keyasla stopped in a small clearing and asked if they could stop for a few hours. "I'm starving and exhausted," she said, stretching her animated body.

"I should probably get some sleep too," Rae laughed.

"Let's see," Keyasla said, fiddling with something on her wrist, "it's almost eleven now, that means I'll most likely be back on around eleven tonight." Rae wasn't sure if she was talking to her or her fans, then, "Do you think that's enough time for you? If not, I can teleport back home and then do some other things in town."

"Eleven will give me plenty of time," Rae said, then added, "I will see you later."

"See you later!" Keyasla yelled a little too loudly but it didn't matter as she disappeared in front of Rae, her leaving the world soon after.

The ceiling of her bedroom came into focus and she blinked a few times before she sat up and pulled off the headset. 'Why am I such an idiot?' she thought as she put her glasses on and pushed herself off her bed. She had chased this woman out of the club a few hours earlier then she gets randomly paired with her in a video game and she acts really cold and distant. 'What is wrong with me?' she thought as she moved into the kitchen and pulled a meal from the freezer.

Before she could put the meal in the microwave, there was a knock on her door. She stared for a moment at the door before actually moving to answer it. There was a moment of hesitation before she opened the door, looking through the peephole to see who it was. It was Claudia and she looked almost nervous to be there.

Rae opened the door, awkwardly saying, "Hello."

"Hi," Claudia laughed slightly.

Silence fell between them, before Rae asked, "What's up?"

"This might sound a little weird," Claudia said, shifting from one foot to the other, "but, I was wondering if you'd like to go out to eat with me? I don't know that many places in the neighborhood and was hoping you could show me something good that was close by. I'm too tired to go very far."

"Oh," Rae said, knowing full well she didn't know any places in the neighborhood, let alone didn't eat out much. "Well," she said, chewing on her bottom lip, "yeah, I think I know a few places."

"Great," Claudia said, clapping her hands together in front of her large chest.

Rae looked down at herself, "Let me change first," she said, taking a step back, "you can come inside if you want."

"Awesome," Claudia smiled and followed her into the apartment.

Rae hurried down the hall and quickly closed the door to her bedroom, taking a deep breath. 'Why am I such an idiot?!' she asked herself again, throwing off her sweater and grabbing her phone. She quickly searched for the top restaurants in her neighborhood and tossed it on the bed then went to find an outfit she could stand herself in.

She shoved her tits into a bra and pulled a spaghetti strap shirt over it, then tugged on a skirt that sat mid-thigh and hugged her skin. She pulled one of her long, sleeveless cardigans out of the closet and slid it on. The boots she wanted to wear with this were in the front closet but she still hadn't picked a restaurant. There was a moment where she hesitated in front of the mirror, wondering if she should attempt make-up.

"Why am I trying to impress her?" she grumbled to herself and grabbed the phone from the bed. She quickly scanned through reviews of a few places before deciding on one. Many of the people raved about the food and the service, including mentions of the scenery.

"I decided on a place," she said as she came out of her bedroom, Claudia standing by the multitude of figurines that lined the shelves of her living room. "It's a block away, on a rooftop."

"Where did you get this one?" Claudia asked, ignoring what Rae had said.

"Which one?" she asked, crossing the room to get a better view. When she got closer, she seen that Claudia was pointing to the figurine of her current in-game character. Her other character designs were in a line next to it. "That was a custom order," she said.

"Oh," Claudia said, her lip twitching a little, "I like it, it's cute."

"T-thank you," Rae said, feeling somehow embarrassed now that she was vain enough to have figurines of herself printed and displayed in her apartment.